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African American Homicide in Philadelphia to be Examined During Public Lecture

The Center for Urban Research and Education (CURE) at Rutgers–Camden will offer a free public lecture addressing the high concentration of homicides among African Americans in Philadelphia over the past 25 years at 12:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31.

Eric Schneider, an associate director for academic affairs and an adjunct professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, will present a lecture titled “The Social Ecology of African American Homicide: Philadelphia since 1940."

As Schneider explains, over the past 25 years in Philadelphia, 70 percent of nearly 9,500 homicide victims were African American, and more than half were African American males between the ages of 18 and 40. According to the researcher, most commentators see this as a uniquely contemporary problem, but it is not. Schneider will explore the historical development of the contemporary homicide crisis, review existing explanations for homicide, and use excerpts from a sample of homicide trial transcripts to argue for the emergence and perpetuation of “homicidal environments.”

The talk, which is free of charge and open to the public, will be held in the executive private dining room of the Campus Center, located on Third Street, between Cooper Street and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the Rutgers–Camden campus. Lunch will be provided.

Schneider is the author of In the Web of Class: Delinquents and Reformers in Boston, 1810s-1930s (1992),Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings: Youth Gangs in Postwar New York (1999), and Smack: Heroin and the American City (2008), which won the Kenneth B. Jackson Prize for the best book in North American urban history. Schneider is currently working on a history of homicide in Philadelphia from the 1940s to the 1990s, titled American Necropolis: Homicide in the Modern City. To read more about Scheinder’s work, visit berfrois.com/2014/01/eric-schneider-the-streets-of-killadelphia.

Founded in 2011, the Center for Urban Research and Education at Rutgers–Camden aims to encourage, facilitate, and promote research on urban issues by Rutgers-Camden faculty and their collaborators around the nation. The research center’s monthly seminars, held in conjunction with Rutgers–Camden’s Office of Civic Engagement, provide members and affiliates with opportunities to learn about cutting-edge research and initiatives from scholars, community activists, and others engaged in urban research and/or urban change.

This event is co-hosted by the Public Administration Student Association at Rutgers–Camden. No registration is required.

Visitors to Rutgers–Camden should obtain a temporary parking permit from 8 a.m. Mondays through 5 p.m. Fridays. For more information, contact the Office of Parking and Transportation at 856-225-6137.

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